Filament unwinding apparatus



March 9, 1965 R. R- HANSEN 3,172,616

FILAMENT UNWINDING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 1.. 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INV ENTOR. RONAL D R. HANSEN ATTORNEY March 9, 1965 R. R. HANSEN FILAMENTuuwmnmc APPARATUS Filed Oct. 1. 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

RONALD R. HANSEN ATTORNE Y United States Patent ()fifice 3,172,616Patented Mar. 9, 1 965 3,172,616 FILAMENT UNWINDING APPARATUS Ronald R.Hansen, Menomonee Falls, Wis, assignor to A. 0. Smith Corporation,Milwaukee, Wis, a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 1, 1962, Se No.227,325 7 Claims. (Cl. 242-128) This invention relates to a method andapparatus for continuously unwinding filamentary material from aplurality of filament packages.

In the manufacture of glass filament reinforced plastic articles, it hasbeen found that many of these articles may be most easily fabricatedfrom a plastic impregnated glass filament tape or fabric.

The tape or fabric is generally manufactured from a plurality of strandseach of which is composed of a number of glass filaments. Previously, itwas thought to be necessary to manufacture tape or fabric by drawing thefilaments from a glass drawing bushing, gathering the filaments to forma strand, then winding the strand into a package or cake pack, unwindingthe cake pack or strand package into a spool of some type in asubsequent operation, and finally unwinding the spool in combinationwith a plurality of other spools to form a multi-strand tape or fabric.The material so formed could then be impregnated with a plastic materialand could be subsequently used in the manufacture of glass reinforcedplastic articles such as automobile components, boats, pipes, storagetanks, water heaters, and the like.

It is highly important that the last unwinding phase prior to themanufacture of tape be continuous. Some difiiculty has been encounteredin unwinding glass filaments from spools. The spools generally consistof strands wound tightly upon a core with adjacent turns of the strandlying in side-by-side relation. In unwinding these spools, the filamentscomprising one turn of the strand tend to become intermeshed with thefilaments of the adjacent turn of strand, and as they are unwound beginto tray and tear and become snarled. This fraying and tearing can becomeso severe that the strand breaks before the spool is unwound, and asubstantial portion of the spool is wasted. The tape making operationcannot be maintained as a continuous process under conditions ofnumerous strand separations from spools. Under such conditions, itbecomes necessary to employ a substantial number of persons to tend thestrand unwinding apparatus to repair broken strand ends and to replacetangled spools. High manpower requirements of this nature can make thecost of the tape making process prohibitive.

The method and apparatus of this invention are adapted to overcome theshortcomings occurring in the use of spooled strand. In the process ofthe instant invention, filaments are initially drawn from a standardglass drawing bushing. These filaments are then gathered beneath thebushing to form a strand. The strand is wound upon a drum to form astrand package or cake pack. The strand is wound upon this package inlarge helices whereby adjacent turns of strand are not laid upon thepackage in side-by-side relationship. This cake pack or strand packageis placed in the unwinding unit of the invention, and tape or fabric ismade as the filament is unwound from the pack. The step of winding andunwinding tightly wound strand spools is thereby eliminated.

Little difficulty is experienced with respect to tangling when thestrand is unwound directly from helically wound cake packs or strandpackages until the pack has been unwound to the final few strand layers.At this point, the loose helical turns become quite lacey and fragile.The layers lose their self-supporting ability, and having been initiallywound under tension, have a tendency to preventing further unwinding ofthe pack and maintenance of a continuous unwinding operation.

In utilizing the apparatus of the invention, a tape or fabric consistingof a plurality of glass strands can be manufactured directly andcontinuously from the cake pack or strand package. By supporting one ofthe strand packages upon its vertical axis and wtihdrawing the strandfrom the inner periphery thereof and downwardly, the tendency of thefinal layers of strand to tumble over and become tangled can be avoided.In unwinding in a downwardly direction rather than horizontally orupwardly, the final strand layers of a package are maintained in thedesired winding position and are prevented from being pulled over orfrom being lifted by the tension on the strand. The lower portion of thestrand package is confined to prevent the outer layers of the packagefrom springing outwardly and ultimately causing a strand tangle. Asecond package is placed upon its horizontal axis and the end on theouter periphery of the first package is connected to the end on theinner periphery of the second package. When the first package has becomeexhausted, the strand of the second package commences unwinding from theinner periphery thereof. An operator need only place the horizontallydisposed package in the position formerly occupied by the first package.The operator may then attach the outer strand end of the second packageto the inner strand end of a third package which is placed in horizontalrelation to the newly positioned package.

The method and apparatus of this invention has resulted in a continuous,trouble-free process for unwinding a plurality of strands from amulti-package unit to form a glass fiber tape.

Various objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter becomemore fully apparent from the following description of the drawingsillustrating presently preferred embodiments thereof, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a group of strand unwinding unitscomprising a plurality of creels;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a creel wherein one strand package hasbeen exhausted;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a creel; and,

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a creel.

The apparatus of the invention comprises a series of strand unwindingunits as shown in FIGURE 1. Each unit, generally designated 1, includesa group of creels 2. FIG. 4 best illustrates a single creel.

A creel, as shown in FIG. 2 and H6. 3, comprises a base member 3 whichis made of a compression molded plastic material. The base member isformed with a concave portion 4 which is adapted to receive and supporta cake pack or strand package 5 in a generally horizontal position.Adjacent the concave portion 4 of the base member, a second concaveportion 6 is provided to support a cake pack 7 vertically upon its axis.The bottom of concave portion 6 is fabricated with a strand receivingopening which is defined by a grorna met 8. Due to the abrasivecharacter of glass filaments, grommet 8 is made of a smoothabrasive-resistant material which will not act to abrade the glassstrand passing therethrough. Base member 3 includes a recessed portion 9which extends below the lowest level of concave portion 6. A secondgrommet 10 is provided in recessed portion 9 and is disposed at rightangles to the opening of grommet 8 to permit passage of a strand fromgrommet 8 to grommet ltl. As may be best viewed in FIG. 4, recessedportion 9 of the molded plastic base member 3 supports a strandtensioning device 11.

The strand tensioning device 11 acts to maintain the strand 12 beingunwound from pack 5 under a predetermined degree of tension as thestrand leaves creel 2 and passes to a tape making machine (not shown).Tensioning device 11 includes a generally circular base plate 13 whichis rotatably mounted upon the recessed portion 9 of base member 3 by apin 14. A pair of axially spaced rods 15 and 16 are mounted upon baseplate 13. A pair of opposed dished plates 17 are slidably carried byeach of the rods 15 and 16 and serve to exert tension on strand 12 andto maintain proper positioning of the strand with respect to rods 15 and16 as it is being unwound. As strand 12 travels through grommet 10, itis Wound a portion of a turn around rod 15, the extent of the turn beingdetermined by the degree of tension required (the greater tensionrequiring a greater amount of turn upon the rod). The strand is thenwound a portion of a turn upon the second rod 16 and this time on theside opposite that which the strand was passed on rod 15. The tensionapplied to strand 12 by device 11 can be varied merely by rotating thebase plate 13 in a counter clockwise direction to increase the tensionbeing applied or in a clockwise direction to reduce the tension beingapplied.

Strand 12, as it leaves rod 16, passes through a second grommetedopening 18 in recessed portion 9. As is best viewed in FIGURE 1, strand12 then passes through one of a plurality of guide eyelets 19 includedin guide bar 20 which is secured to the supporting frame 21 of thestrand unit 1. Strand 12 is finally carried to a tape or fabric makingapparatus (not shown).

It has been found in practice to be desirable to pass a strand 12 fromeach of a number of creels 2 through a single eyelet 19. In this mannereach eyelet 19 receives a number of strands. Should a strand break, abit of adhesive is applied to the end extending from the cake pack andthe treated end is bonded to a segment of a companion strand. The tapemaking apparatus may thereby be deprived of its full complement ofstrands only momentarily and the need of threading the broken strandthrough the entire system of guide bars and finally into the tape orfabric making apparatus is obviated.

FIG. 4 illustrates in a sectional view a creel 2 including a moldedplastic base member 3 supported by frame 21 and supporting a pair ofcake packs 5 and 7 and a strand tensioning device 11 disposed inoperative relation. One of the cake packs 5 is supported on itshorizontal axis within concave portion 4 of base memher 3. The packoriginally has two free strand ends 22 and 23. End 22 extends from theouter periphery of pack 5. End 23 extends from the inner periphery ofpack 5 and is bonded, tied or mechanically attached at 24 to outerstrand end 25 of pack 7 which is positioned on its vertical axis withinconcave portion 6 of base member 3.

The leading end of strand 12 is unwound from the inner periphery of pack7 and is drawn downwardly through grommet 8 in the base of concaveportion 6. Strand 12 is then led through grommet and around rods and 16of strand tensioning device 11. The strand is led through grommet 18 ofcreel 2, threaded through an eyelet 19 on guide bar and finally car riedto the tape or fabric making apparatus.

As the strand 12 is continuously unwound from the inner periphery of thevertically positioned cake pack 7, the thickness of the strand packagegradually diminishes. When the package thickness has been reduced to apoint where only a few layers of strand remain in the package, therelatively widely spaced strand helices have a lacey fragile appearanceand become difiicult to unwind without tangling. It has been found thattangling of the last layers of the strand which interrupt the continuousunwinding process can be avoided. This can be accomplished by supportingthe cake pack in a generally vertical position whereby the strand may beunwound from the inner periphery of the pack and downwardly therefromand by containing the outer periphery of the pack to about one-third toone-half of its height. In unwinding the pack in a downward directionthrough the base supporting the pack, the tendency of the strand to liftthe final layers of strand when unwinding vertically and through the topof the pack is eliminated. The tendency of the final layers to fall overand tangle when unwinding in a horizontal direction is also overcome.Unwinding a pack from its internal periphery and downwardly while thebase is securely supported has been found to be a continuouslysuccessful unwinding technique.

In the event the outer strand layers are not contained, the coils of theouter strand layers, which are in tension due to the winding process,will spring apart with a resulting hopeless tangle of the strand. Byenclosing the lower one-third to one-half of cake pack 5 with the wallsof base member 3 defining concave portion 6, the outer layers of strandare prevented from springing outwardly in response to the coilingtension imparted in the strand during the winding process. Therefore, bysupporting cake pack 6 upon base member 3 of the creel of the instantinvention, the tangling tendencies of the tightly coiled strand of thecake packs can be avoided, and the unwinding and tape or fabric makingprocess can be made continuous.

The outer strand end 25 of cake pack 7 is connected to the inner strandend 23 of pack 5. As may be seen in FIG. 2, pack 5 commences unwindingfrom its interior periphery immediately upon exhaustion of pack 7. Thisoccurs substantially Without interruption. The unwinding of horizontallydisposed pack 5 may continue for some time without affecting theoperation. An attendant, servicing the strand unit, upon observing thatpack 7 has been exhausted, merely places pack 5 in upright position inconcave portion 6 and either bonds, ties or mechanically connects outerstrand end 22 of cake pack 5 to the inner strand end of another packwhich is placed horizontally in concave portion 4 of base member 3. Byinitially staggering the amount of strand in the vertically disposedpacks 7 of an entire strand unit, a single attendant may be employed toservice and keep many hundreds of creels in continuous operation asvertically disposed packs 7 become exhausted at intervals rather thansimultaneously and can be replaced by horizontal packs 5 in an orderlymanner.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are com templated as beingwithin the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out anddistinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as theinvention.

I claim:

1. The method of continuously unwinding a package of a helically woundstrand having a pair of exposed ex tremities, comprising supporting afirst portion of the package on the longitudinal axis thereof, unwindingthe strand from the interior of the package commencing with one of theexposed extremities and downwardly from the longitudinal axis thereof,simultaneously supporting a second portion of the package on the radialaxis thereof and interconnecting the package portions by a common strandwhereby the first package portion may be unwound from the interiorthereof, and upon completion of unwinding, the second portion may beunwound substan tially without interruption.

2. The method of continuously unwinding generally cylindrical packagesof helically wound strands having exposed inner extremities and exposedouter extremities, comprising generally horizontally supporting a firststrand package, supporting a second cylindrical strand package in agenerally upright position, connecting the inner exposed strandextremity of the first package to the outer exposed strand extremity ofthe second package, apply ing downward tension to the inner strandextremity of the second cylindrical package to commence the unwindingthereof from the interior of the cylindrical package,

and supporting the first strand package in a generally upright positionupon completion of the unwinding of the second package whereby tensionmay be continuously applied to the strands and the packages may beunwound substantially without interruption.

3. The method of continuously unwinding a plurality of generallycylindrical packages of helically wound strands having exposed ends onthe outer and inner peripheries thereof, comprising supporting a firststrand package in a generally vertical position, confining the lowerportion of the outer periphery of the strand package to contain theoutermost helices of the strand as the package becomes substantiallyunwound, applying a generally downwardly directed tension to the strandend on the inner periphery of the first package to unwind the helices ofthe cylindrical strand package from the interior thereof, supporting asecond strand package in a generally horizontal position,interconnecting the strand end of the first package being exposed on theouter periphery thereof with the strand end of the second package beingexposed on the inner periphery thereof, adapting the strand end of thesecond package disposed on the outer periphery thereof forinterconnection with the strand end of an additional package, completelyunwinding the first package downwardly and from the interior thereof,supporting the second strand interconnected package in the substantiallyvertical position occupied by the unwound first strand package andcontinuing the unwinding of the second package dowwardly and from theinterior thereof substantially without interruption of the windingprocess, interconnecting the strand end of the second package disposedon the outer periphery thereof to the inner strand end of an additionalpackage, supporting the additional package on the horizontal axisthereof, and continuing the supply and interconnection of strand ends toadditional packages whereby the unwinding process may proceedcontinuously and substantially without interruption.

4. The method of unwinding preformed helically wound strand packageshaving exposed strand ends comprising, supporting a first strand packageon a base member whereby the strand helices thereof lie in generallyparallel relation to the base member, passing the inner exposed strandend of the first package downwardly and through the base member,applying tension to the strand passing through the base member, drawingthe strand through strand guide means, and drawing a strand extendingfrom a second package through the strand guide means whereby breakage ofone strand may be remedied by attaching the broken strand end to a continuous strand passing through the common strand guide means.

5. An apparatus for continuously unwinding a plurality of strandpackages, comprising a base for supporting a strand package on thelongitudinal axis thereof, the base having a strand receiving openingadapted to receive a strand from the interior of the package supportedthereon, confining means associated with the base to confine the lowerportion of the strand package and to prevent the outward expansion ofthe outer layers of the strand during the unwinding process, and ahorizontal support member disposed adjacent the base for supportinganother strand package in a horizontal position and for maintaining thehorizontally supported package in generally immobile condition duringthe unwinding of the other package.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, including strand tensioning meansassociated with the base and adapted to evenly apply a generallydownwardly directed tension on a strand being unwound from the interiorof a strand package.

7. The method of continuously and simultaneously unwinding a pluralityof preformed helically wound strand packages having inner and outerexposed strand ends comprising supporting the strand packages upon abase member, passing the inner strand ends of the packages downwardlywith respect to the base, applying tension to the inner strand ends adistance from the packages through a common guide means spaced from thepackages to permit the attachment of a broken strand of the pluralitybetween the common guide means and the packages and to prevent thedisruption of the continuity of the unwinding process because of thebreakage of a strand, and connecting the outer exposed strand ends ofthe plurality of packages to the inner exposed strand ends of secondpackages to maintain the continuity of the unwinding proccss upon theexhaustion of the initial packages.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

5. AN APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY UNWINDING A PLURALITY OF STRANDPACKAGES, COMPRISING A BASE FOR SUPPORTING A STRAND PACKAGE ON THELONGITUDINAL AXIS THEREOF, THE BASE HAVING A STRAND RECEIVING OPENINGADAPTED TO RECEIVE A STRAND FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE PACKAGE SUPPORTEDTHEREON, CONFINING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE BASE TO CONFINE THE LOWERPORTION OF THE STRAND PACKAGE AND TO PREVENT THE OUTWARD EXPANSION OFTHE OUTER LAYERS OF THE STRAND DURING THE UNWINDING PROCESS, AND AHORIZONTAL SUPPORT MEMBER DISPOSED ADJACENT THE BASE FOR SUPPORTINGANOTHER STRAND PACKAGE IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION AND FOR MAINTAINING THEHORIZONTALLY SUPPORTED PACKAGE IN GENERALLY IMMOBILE CONDITION DURINGTHE UNWINDING OF THE OTHER PACKAGE.